Hi there

I am curious to know if yo have heard from others complaining of tinnitus after using minoxidil. I had used finasteride for some 10 years, it seems without any side effects. I stopped the finasteride and had a break for about 18 months from any treatments and then started using minoxidil 5%.Within 3 months i began to be woken with tinnitus. It is now constant in both ears.

Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated.

Tinnitus (ringing in the ears) can be a warning sign for many serious medical conditions not related to medications, but it is also a known rare side effect of minoxidil. You need to see your doctor if you have such a problem. While it may be a potential side effect of the medication, you cannot afford to attribute the symptom to a side effect without a medical examination.

Can hairspray damage hair follicles and lead to hair loss?

If you brush or comb through your hair after the hair spray dries, you may pull out hair. In men and women with varying forms of alopecia, the use of hair sprays can be dangerous with rough combing of the hair. Best to wash it out rather than brush it out. Rough brushing can be a cause of hair loss made worse with hair sprays. Otherwise, hair spray by itself doesn’t equal hair loss.

Hello, I am a black female with a terminal illness and looking for answers/solutions to hair loss problems when i stumbled upon your site. Interesting. I read from you that it was unhealthy, unsafe and unethical to some to do transplants (unfamiliar with transplants) from animals, but what about transplants from healthy human cadavers (donors of course), or even healthy living humans.

Cadaver hair (or from living humans) would require drugs to prevent rejection, just like heart and kidney transplants. So although it would work, it is too dangerous due to the drugs required. Some anti-rejection drugs can increase the risk of infections, heart disease, and cancer.

We have made a significant breakthrough in the way to perform Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) and we have put a substantial effort into giving our readership some practical basis to understand how to evaluate the significance of our breakthrough technology and the FUE process in general. There have been recent claims about FUE that I frankly can’t believe which are now appearing on various websites around the world. Considering that I literally pioneered the FUE field, I believe that I am an authority worth listening to. I have not spoken up about this before, but there is no time like the present to address my concerns publicly.

Please see our latest FUE writings at newhair.com/fue.

Also, we just announced a huge fee discount on our FUE breakthrough, which we’re calling FUE² — or Follicular Unit Extraction Enhanced. See newhair.com/fue2 for more on that.

This patient came into the office this week for a follow-up 10 months after his hair transplant. His before photos show his Norwood 4A pattern and his after photos show the result of a single procedure of 2790 grafts. When I showed him his before photos, he smiled and said, “I really did not see it grow, but I guess it did. Can you give me my before pictures so I can show them to my mom? She told me not to worry, it was looking so good“. Now he can show her (and all of you) just how good. His smile was quite heartwarming.

Click the photos below to enlarge.

Before:

After 2790 grafts:

Hey Dr. Rassman,
I have a question about the maturing hairline. Is there any sort of sequence to overall hair growth/development; specifically, does the hairline tend to mature before/after/simultaneously with the growth of the beard or other body hair? If I already have a full beard, is it reasonable to assume I’ve already got my mature hairline, or does the hairline mature independently of other body hair maturation?

I have described the mature hairline here and here, however, I do not believe anyone really knows (including me) the exact order or timeframe in which a maturing hairline develops. Medicine is a descriptive science at times, and sometimes all I can do is describe what I have seen and observed.

Experience shows that the hairline takes on a receding leading edge sometime between the ages of 19-29 on average. Body hair usually comes on later than pubic and underarm hair. This is a DHT mediated series of events, however there is much more than DHT behind these changes. So no, hairline maturation is not linked to the growth of body hair. If you are concerned, you can see your primary doctor or a dermatologist.

Hi Doctor,

I want to perform a new experiment on my Hair. Currently im using finasteride 5Mg (cut into 4 pieces) from past 3 months and it seems i have arrested my hair fall upto some extent and happy about it. I currently have moderately good hair line but my frontal region and crown is getting thinner day by day. Just yesterday i took a head shave as my hairs were looking very ugly. Im thinking of using Rogaine foam on my shaved head till my hairs grow back (may be upto 6 months) and continue to use Finasteride. Will the effect of roagine be more effective if i use it on shaved head? and will i lose hair after i stop using rogaine foam but still continue to use finasteride ? Please guide me.

Thanks in Advance.

It would be easier to apply Rogaine to a shaved head so that the hair does not take up the medication (wasted when applied to the hair rather than the scalp). I don’t know that it’ll be more effective if you apply it thoroughly either way, but it’ll certainly be faster to do. Rub away!

I like your approach in that you will maintain the Propecia. Propecia won’t keep hair grown by Rogaine (minoxidil) and vice versa. In other words, if you stop Propecia, Rogaine won’t maintain the benefits you saw from Propecia; if you stop Rogaine, Propecia won’t maintain the Rogaine benefits. They work independently.

I have some kind of skin infection on my left buttocks. It’s been there for 5 years now. During that time, i’ve been noticing gradual hairloss. I’m even losing pubic, eyebrow, eyelash, and more recently, ear and nose hairs.

My question is, will an infection on one part of my body cause inflammation on other parts of my body (e.g. scalp)?

First, I would want to know what type of infection goes on for 5 years. That is not right and you need a diagnosis. With regard to spreading infections, we know that some bacteria can spread via the blood stream like the staph infection that kills thousands yearly and got a lot of attention earlier this year, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

With regard to your hair loss, that is probably not related to the infection on your butt. You should still get some medical attention and have a doctor look you over. The Internet is not the place for that.

Does Vitamin D deficiency cause hair loss?

Yes! Hair loss and rickets are the primary symptoms of vitamin D deficiency so this is a good vitamin to take if you have hair loss caused by nutritional causes; however, the most common cause of hair loss is genetic.

A study published in the Journal of Endocrinology back in 2002 points to vitamin D fostering hair growth in mice. How that relates to humans is not known to me, but it’s worth a read if you’re interested — Vitamin D3 analogs stimulate hair growth in nude mice

I have tried Finasteride, minoxidil and various lotions and shampoos without much success. My question is if I wear a toupee 5 days a week, using only clips to the SIDE area’s of my head, will it cause much damage?

Clips can cause traction alopecia. When you use them, it is always best to move them around to different attachment points, like spreading around the pull to other areas sharing the damage. With less than full time use, the damage may be less, but it still may occur. I have transplanted many patients into the bald spots created by the clips.